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Hurricanes head coach John Plumtree said his side are hurting after their 38-22 thrashing at the hands of the defending champion Crusaders.
Plumtree’s side were down 24-0 at halftime and conceded six tries.
“I think there will be some pretty angry players in there [changing room] that think we let ourselves down,” Plumtree said post-match.
The Hurricanes will quickly have a chance to redeem themselves when they host the Brumbies in Palmerston North on Friday.
“Normally, we like a seven-day turnaround. But I think this team is pretty keen to get back out there actually, to show that we’re better than that,” Plumtree said.
“That will be our attitude. We’re not going to panic too much, we will just regroup and build towards next week.”
The Hurricanes’ second half fight back gave Plumtree some hope, as well as the fact that he will likely have a few front line players back next week.
“I think that was the key thing for us. I just said, as long we never give up. If we drop our heads and stop trying, that will be the worst thing that happens tonight. On that side of it, I’m really pleased. Colesy [Dane Coles] can regroup the boys well.”
Plumtree identified set piece as a sore point, and will hope that the return of Ardie Savea and Vaea Fifita can remedy that problem.
“I think there was just a whole lot of individual errors happening in the lineout, whether it was poor execution or their reads on defence,” Plumtree said.
“We just can’t afford to let that happen going forward, we have to be able to win our set piece so we can get our game going.”
The Hurricanes’ next task won’t be easy when they meet a tough Brumbies outfit that put 54 points and eight tries on the Chiefs over the weekend.
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